


Play With Fire

by onlyhereforellick



Series: Fictober ‘19 [11]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, High School AU, fictober 19, mention of bulling/depression/revenge porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 11:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20994074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: Wordlessly, Nick turned to go; he may not know her yet, but he’d be damned if anyone treated a woman like that. Not if he had anything to say about it.





	Play With Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this idea for a while (since listening to “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” by TSwift) and decided to combine with fictober. 
> 
> Then I had a really really awful day today so it got way more sad than I meant it to be 🙃
> 
> Fictober 19; prompt 11: “It’s not always like this.”

Tearing through the empty school hallways, tears flowing freely bringing with them any remaining makeup she had so delicately applied this morning, Ellie tried to get away from it all. She knew she’d never out run this, but it didn’t hurt to hide. She looked, and felt, a mess—mascara streaked, cheeks blotchy, hair undone—but she didn’t care who saw her at this point.  _Everyone’s seen  **everything** anyway_, she thought wryly. That thought brought on a fresh wave of sobs wracking through her body. She was humiliated, utterly defeated.

Finally reaching the girl’s locker room, she threw open her locker and pulled out the extra pair of clothes she kept here for emergencies. She’d never needed it...until today. Junior prom was the last day she’d think she’d ever need them, especially after the beginning of high school. Ripping off her prom dress with a hard tug and satisfying tear of fabric, Ellie collapsed to the bench in between the walls of lockers. Sitting there in still more than the entire school had seen her in, she hung her head in her hands and cried. And cried. And cried. 

_Stupid, stupid, stupid_.  She repeated over and over in her head. Truly she deserved it. How did the saying go: don’t play with fire ‘cause you’ll get burned? With a small shake of her head, she realized it didn’t matter. The photos were out, she was done. The entire school had seen the photos she’d taken and meant to be private.  _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. 

She thought back to how she’d gotten here. Crying on the locker room floor, naked except for her matching lingerie set— _a surprise for her boyfriend, well now, ex_— on the night of the most anticipated day in her high school career: junior prom. 

_Once the nerd, outcast, “scarecrow” as they called her, Ellie’s life had turned around the end of sophomore year. Her first two years of high school had been miserable. She was constantly ribbed for her clothing choices, how many books she could read, the food she would eat. At some point, the name “scarecrow” got tossed around at a pep rally freshman year and it unfortunately stuck. She tried to keep her head down and ignore it all, but...it was hard. The whispered, and not-so-whispered gossip would echo in her head all day and night, making sleep near impossible. _

_She battled with insomnia and depression the first two years of high school alone, until her parents finally convinced her to try therapy. It had helped and she got _ _noticeably better, brighter. She still had some tough days every now and then, but overall she was managing. _

_Beginning of junior year, she got seated next to the star soccer player, Thomas the Adonis as his friends called him, in Spanish class. Sure she had a mild teenage crush on him, but she knew it would never happen. Slowly they formed a sort-of bond as she helped him more and more with his pronunciation and conjugation. Languages came so easy to her she forgot it was difficult for others to learn an entirely new set of vocabulary and grammar. One day they were practicing carrying on a conversation and Thomas invited her to his soccer game in Spanish. Ellie responded as if to continue the made-up conversation by declining and giving an excuse. When Thomas _ _answered in English with a serious look on her face urging her to come because he really wanted her there, she was shocked. She complied in the moment but later that day couldn’t bring herself to show up. _

_In class the next day, Thomas looked so hurt. He confronted her about not coming to watch him play, and Ellie realized he truly did want her there—her, the “scarecrow.” Apologizing, she made a promise to him to come to the rest of his_ _games that season, and she stuck to it. After his final home game, she waited for him at the bottom of the bleachers, a low chain-link fence separating the track and soccer field from the stands. He ran up to her after his coach finished talking to the team with his hands behind his back. Coming to an abrupt stop he seemed to be more out of breath than he did post-game. She started to congratulate him, but he stopped her with a raised hand. Silently he brought the other hand out from behind his back to reveal a tulip. She had mentioned in class one day they were her favorite. That night he asked her to be his girlfriend, and she really was on cloud nine. _

_They spent the next six months insanely happy—or so she thought. He introduced her to his friends, she stopped getting called scarecrow, he took her out on the cutest dates, they kissed under the moonlight. It was perfect, a typical high school romance. When he asked her to prom with a dozen tulips and bacon brown sugar chips, she thought she was in love. _

_She spent the month leading up to prom getting ready for the biggest day of her life. Her mom took her to the closest boutique to pick out a gorgeous emerald-green form-fitting dress with a sequined bodice. She practiced an intricate updo over and over again until she was able _ _to do it perfectly in less than an hour. She purchased all new, fancy makeup just for that night, a deep smokey-green eye palette with a rich nude lip color. She found the sultriest nude pumps she could manage given she was naturally a bit clumsy. She was ready for the night of her life. _

_ A week or so before prom, they had been making out at his house. His parents were away for the weekend and he invited her to stay the night. She told him upfront she wanted to wait a little while longer, but that she would still stay. He had been so respectful of her decision, she was over the moon. That was probably the reason she agreed to taking a few more, scandalous, pictures for him later that night. He had told her he missed at night and wanted something to dream about when she couldn’t be there. Riding off the high of the night, she went along with it. A few were not too bad, she still had her bra and underwear on, and then he managed to convince her to go more risqué and take it all off. She hesitated, but he pushed so gently with a couple kisses to her nose and neck that she complied.  _

_ That was her biggest mistake. _

_Flash forward to a mere couple hours before, when they announced who won prom king and queen. Now normally, they announce the court and there’s a picture slideshow to accompany the lucky winning couple. Everyone knew it would be Thomas and Ellie who’d win. They even had a friend who dabbled in portrait photography take a nice photo for them to use in the slideshow. So you can imagine her surprise, when instead of a montage of their relationship, a humiliating slideshow of her less-than-decent private photographs was blasted_ _across the auditorium. All set to the tune of “I Just Had Sex” by The Lonely Island. Frozen to the spot and shocked to her very core, she turned to Thomas. She expected him to be outraged for her. She found him doubled over in laughter. Anger, humiliation, embarrassment, resentment, disbelief bubbled over until she finally ran. And ran. _

_ Stupid, stupid, stupid.  _

She really shouldn’t be surprised, what did she expect dating the star soccer player? Why did she ever think he really liked her?  _Why_ did she fall in love? The questions swirled in her head and the tears continued to fall until she was cried out. 

A noise in the far corner of the locker room startled her. She jumped up, furiously brushing the tears and snot off her face and jerkily tried to put her clothes on. 

A voice rounded the corner before the person did, “Hey uh-, hey, you okay?” The second he came around the wall of lockers he quickly turned his face. She had only managed to pull on her shorts and still stood there in a lace bra that really didn’t leave much to the imagination,  _well there was no need for imagination anymore_, she thought sobering herself. 

A hiccup escaping before she managed to squeak out, “yeah- yep! I’m fine.” She sniffles and wiped her eyes again, anxiously awaiting the moment this stranger left her alone. She didn’t even bother putting on her shirt, she didn’t have the energy to care. Besides, he’d already seen everything by now anyways. 

Slowly turning his head, he started to pry one eye open before quickly slamming it shut and covering his face with his hands. “Aren’t you, uh, going to put on a shirt?” He asked, almost cautiously.

Shrugging her shoulders hopelessly she replied, “What’s even the point anymore? It doesn’t matter.” Resigned to not arriving home shirtless though, she tugged the old gym shirt over her head. “There, it’s on.”

The mysterious stranger splayed his fingers and peered through them, as if to check to see if she was telling the truth. 

She grabbed her clutch and car keys to make a quick getaway, she really didn’t need to chat with random people who’d seen more than their fair share of her. 

“Going somewhere?” He questioned her, seeming to be genuinely interested in her answer. 

A wry chuckle escaped her despite the circumstances. “Yeah, somewhere far the hell away from here.” She proved her point by pushing past him and making her way to the door. Sarcasm kicked into high gear—it was her best defense mechanism—she called back to him, “It’s not always like this. Hope you enjoyed the show!” And with that she was gone. 

Meanwhile, the stranger, or Nick, was left standing seriously confused in the girls locker room. Moments ago, he witnessed the prettiest girl he’d ever seen sprinting through his new school’s hallways crying her eyes out. This was his first prom, and while he may have been late to the party, he was pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen. So he followed her, wanted to make sure she was okay. What he didn’t expect was to walk in on an almost naked beautiful girl, and then have her deflect and run away. What confused him the most was the destroyed dress and discarded shoes. Most girls lived for that kind of stuff, and this girl just left them?Besides that, she had just stood there, shirtless, like she didn’t care. But she had been crying...it just didn’t make sense. Grabbing what remained of her outfit, he made his was to the auditorium. Time to see what all the hype was about with this prom. 

Entering the room there was a weird charge to the air. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it until he heard the whispers.

_ Did you see her? _

_What a slut! _

_ Does she think she’s pretty? _

_ Doesn’t she know scarecrows aren’t sexy? _

He finally found a buddy from the soccer team he was planning on joining next season, Thomas. He wish he’d never asked him what happened. In between laughs, Thomas managed to tell him all about putting Ellie’s nudes on display for the school. Nick had only just learned her name, but his vision burned red. Before thinking, he landed a strong right hook to Thomas’ jaw. Shaking out his right hand, he looked at him in disgust. The crowds stood surrounding them with mouths agape. Wordlessly, Nick turned to go; he may not know her yet, but he’d be damned if anyone treated a woman like that. Not if he had anything to say about it. 


End file.
